


Shelter

by Plaguedoctorbeaks



Category: Crash Bandicoot (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Ending, Attempted Murder, Found Family, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, Oneshot, Post-Canon Fix-It
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-29
Updated: 2020-08-29
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:28:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,738
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26177998
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Plaguedoctorbeaks/pseuds/Plaguedoctorbeaks
Summary: The Evil Twins were ruined by Crash and Cortex. Their plans were ruined, their riches stolen, their army destroyed, and they were driven out of the safety of their stronghold. When forced back to square one, facing the treacherous, inhospitable wasteland of the 10th dimension with no goal to work towards, it seems as though there’s nowhere left for the Twins. But home can be found in the most unlikely of places, and with the most unlikely of people.
Relationships: Evil Crash/Good Cortex
Comments: 1
Kudos: 21





	Shelter

_**“LET’S GET OUTTA HERE!”** _

Filled with nothing but pure dread, Victor ascended rapidly with Moritz by his side, fleeing the Deathbot’s destruction, feeling as though the world was collapsing around him. His fear was tempered with rage as he heard Nina’s triumphant cheer far below him, heard the roar of the Mecha-Bandicoot once more, heard the horrible screech of tearing metal as Crash plunged the Mecha-Bandicoot’s chainsaw into the Deathbot, turning its intricate circuitry to scrap metal.

Victor was weakened from the battle, but still had enough strength left to use his powers to shatter a pane of glass in the ceiling of the throne room and break free into the open sky. Shards of glass plummeted to the floor far below as he pushed on, grabbing Moritz by the hand and pulling him along as he hesitated at the exit.

This is the end. The end of everything the twins had worked for. The end of their perfect plan. All of Victor’s hope and confidence now lay in tatters amongst the wreckage of the Deathbot. 

Cortex had succeeded in ruining their lives once more.

“W-what are we gonna do now?” Moritz quavered, his eyes wide as saucers.

Victor took a deep breath, trying to focus despite the whirlwind of anger and terror raging inside his brain.

“We… We can’t stay here. We gotta find somewhere else to go. They’ll probably come back for the riches and almost all the ants are dead, it ain’t safe here anymore.”

“But what about our home? What are we gonna eat? _I don’t wanna starve!_ ” Moritz’s tone wavered as he began to wail, tears filling his eyes as he wrung his hands.

“Shut up! Stop crying! We’re gonna be okay, alright?”

Despite his words, Victor didn’t entirely believe it himself. Where else could they go? There was nothing left for them anywhere Victor could think of. As they’d just established, the stronghold that they’d called home for many long years was as good as gone, and they no longer had the ant drones to gather food and resources for them. The twins could summon food and other items using their reality-warping powers, but using their powers required energy that neither of the twins had in that moment. Asking for Cortex and Crash’s forgiveness and help was obviously out of the question, and what was left of Victor’s pride didn’t allow him to consider it.

Moritz was still softly sobbing, trying his best to blink the tears out of his eyes, unable to brush them away through his helmet. He looked exhausted. Victor felt tired as well. A cold breeze blew over the roof of the stronghold, chilling both parrots to the bone, even through their bodysuits. Victor peered back down through the skylight. It looked like Crash had lifted Cortex up into Mecha-Bandicoot’s cockpit and was now hugging him, while Nina poked around in the wreckage of the Deathbot. Victor looked away, cold fury forming in his insides, colder than the wind that still buffeted them.

“We have to find some shelter. We can’t stay here.”

“But where? Th-There’s nothing else on this island! Well… Not except for…”

Victor slowly closed his eyes in resignation as he came to the same conclusion that Moritz had. Evil Crash.

They hadn’t really interacted with Evil Crash before – after all, why would they? They had plans to make, ant armies to raise, powers to develop, and that took time that shouldn’t be wasted messing around with feral marsupials. They had lost many a stray squad of ant drones to Evil Crash’s insatiable hunger, but they had never seen it as worth their time to go after him since the bandicoot seemed to steer clear of the stronghold, therefore never posing a threat towards the Twins themselves.

“…I guess it’s worth a shot.” Victor sighed. “I’m too tired to dimension hop, and it looks like you are too. What other choice do we have?”

Slowly but steadily, the twins steered their hover chairs down the side of the stronghold and through the nearby cave that lead back through to the other side of the island, keeping an eye out for any evil scientists, gothic cyborgs or heroic bandicoots still lingering around.

Evil Crash’s house was just as much of a dump as the ant patrols had relayed to them – gnarled, spiky walls surrounding a dilapidated shack, a worn stone well, a bent, rusted mailbox, and the withered, twisted husk of a dead tree in the yard. 

The two brothers slowly crept up the garden path, approaching the house in silence, leaving their hoverchairs just outside the fence in an effort to not startle Evil Crash, should he be present. To their luck, the door was already wide open, revealing a dark room, with a low crackling fire just visible at the back. They stepped onto the doormat, both pairs of eyes anxiously scanning the room for danger.

The door slammed behind them, and the room went dark.

Victor immediately turned around – there was no way he was going to let them be trapped in here. There was no sign of a latch or door handle, an oversized keyhole being the only thing decorating the round wooden barrier. Victor knocked on the door with what was left of his energy, testing its strength; the barrier was thick and solid, impossible for the twins to break open without their powers.

A cold chill crept up Victor’s spine as he finally noticed slow, heavy footsteps behind him, getting closer and closer.

Moritz was frozen with terror, only able to stand and stare as the red beast slowly approached them.

Victor finally turned around, confirming his fears. Evil Crash was stood in the centre of the room, bearing his jagged teeth in a malicious grin. He growled softly, licking his lips as he examined his newly found prey.

Two little birdies wandering into his den all by themselves? It couldn’t be easier pickings. He could already see it now: delicious roasts. They’d probably taste just like chicken. All he had to do was kill them to stop them from escaping.

“Oh boy! I love roast chicken!” Moritz squeaked in a pathetic attempt to break the tension.

“Well, this is one heck of an ending,” Victor groaned to Moritz in resignation as Evil Crash proceeded further, closing the distance between the twins and himself, fingers twitching in savage anticipation of the kill. 

Evil Crash snatched up Moritz, the green twin being within easiest reach for his first bite. Moritz could only scream as the bandicoot’s hands tightened around his tiny body, his mouth opening wide, placing the parrot’s head between his jaws, biting down hard-

_Clink._

Evil Crash’s teeth glanced off the reinforced glass of Moritz’s helmet, not even leaving a scratch. Moritz fainted. Victor could only stand there and stare in a mixture of confusion, fear, anger and a bizarre urge to laugh. Evil Crash paused for a moment, confused, then tried again. Once more his fangs bounced off of Moritz’s helmet, not making a dent.

Evil Crash growled in frustration and grabbed Victor with his free hand, trying his best to take a bite out of the small bird, only to achieve the same result he got from Moritz. He clamped his jaws down onto the helmet in an attempt to break through, producing an awful squealing sound as his teeth scratched against the glass. Victor thrashed and screamed; though the helmet was too strong for Evil Crash to easily break open, it wouldn’t be long before he figured out that their bodysuits weren’t nearly as impregnable, and a creature more than five times your size trying to bite your head off isn’t exactly a fun experience.

“ _Crash?_ What on Earth are you doing?!”

Evil Crash froze and spat out Victor’s head, turning to the source of the voice. Shopping bags in hand, a horrified expression on his face, Good Cortex was stood in the doorway of the house’s side entrance.

“Oh, Crash! How many times do I have to tell you? Don’t eat sapient beings! It’s n-not nice!”

Evil Crash looked away, chagrined, kicking at the floor beneath him before reluctantly dropping the twins onto the rug. Good Cortex finally looked down at the twins and dropped the bags, his eyes widening as he realised exactly who they were.

“…Moritz? Victor? Boys? It… can’t be…!”

“Oh, so you remember us?” Victor coughed, clearing his throat and shaking his head in an effort to clear the moisture that had gathered in the corners of his eyes. 

“I… I saw the statue that you two built on the mountainside. The one of your faces. I thought it looked like you, but I had no idea that you were-!” Good Cortex sniffed and took a deep breath, trying to clear his thoughts.

“Oh, how you’ve grown…” Good Cortex crossed the room over to the twins, dropping to his knees and scooping them both up into a warm hug. Moritz groggily returned to consciousness, squeaking in fear as he felt arms around him, but quickly relaxing when he realised that it wasn’t Evil Crash. Victor felt conflicted. Part of him wanted to return the hug; genuine affection from Cortex, even if it wasn’t his Cortex, just felt right. On the other hand, he couldn’t forget what his Cortex had done to them, not to mention the fact that the man currently hugging them was an entirely different person to the one who had raised them, despite how he appeared.

Victor pried himself free of Good Cortex’s embrace.

“Listen up, I’m not your pet. I dunno what happened to your Victor and Moritz, but we ain’t them. We’re from another dimension!”

Good Cortex looked only confused at first, but his face fell as Victor’s words sunk in. He let go of Moritz, gently placing him back down on the carpet.

“…I see. I’d only hoped that… Never mind. In any case… What can I do for you two? What brings you here?”

Victor explained the events of their lives since the accident to Good Cortex, Moritz occasionally chiming in with his own statements and added details. He explained eight-year-old Cortex’s failed experiment with the Evolvo-Ray prototype, about how they developed their powers, about how their plan to get revenge had failed. (Victor decided to leave out the part about their attempt to destroy Cortex’s dimension- he had a feeling that Good Cortex wouldn’t approve of that, and he wanted to get on the scientist’s good side.)

Good Cortex listened intently, his brow becoming increasingly wrinkled in concern and sympathy as Victor’s tale went on. Evil Crash slowly approached them and lowered himself down onto the rug beside Good Cortex; even he became interested in the twins’ plight, beside himself… though he couldn’t stop himself from wondering about how the parrots would taste in a stew.

“So that’s how it happened in your dimension?” Good Cortex looked down, fiddling with a fold in the rug beneath him. 

“…I did the same experiment with my twins when I was eight, you know. I was so excited, but I was too naïve and inexperienced, and my evolvo-ray prototype was nowhere near ready. I don’t know where my twins ended up after the flash. I haven’t seen them since. I cried so much, but I could never figure out a way to find them and get them back…” Good Cortex trailed off, sighing wistfully. 

Moritz placed a sympathetic hand on the scientist’s back.

“You seem a lot nicer than our pops, y’know,” the parrot said quietly. “I bet your twins missed you real bad.”

Good Cortex smiled sadly. “It’s a nice thought, but that doesn’t change what I did to them, regardless of my intentions. …I just hope that they were safe, and happy, wherever they ended up.”

There was a pause in conversation. Evil Crash itched at his scalp, yawning in boredom. His stomach growled loudly.

“Oh! I forgot-!” Good Cortex got up to his feet. “You’re still hungry. I suppose you’d like dinner?”

Evil Crash nodded slowly. He was disappointed over missing out on his prey, but considering he was getting fed either way, he really couldn’t complain. Good Cortex put his hands on his hips, his face taking on a disappointed expression.

“Not quite yet. Haven’t you forgotten something?”

Crash blinked slowly. Cortex sighed.

“Come on, honey, we’ve talked about this…! Apologise to the twins, please.”

Evil Crash rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, making a low rumbling sound in his throat. When Good Cortex didn’t relent, the bandicoot groaned in exasperation and reluctantly held out his hand to Victor for a handshake.

“Uh. Don’t worry ‘bout it,” Victor mumbled awkwardly, instinctively taking a step back to stay out of reach of the yellowed claws centimetres from his face.

“…We’ll work on it.” Good Cortex made his way over to the kitchen, picking up the abandoned shopping bags along the way. Moritz followed him, already pricking up at the mention of food.

“Say, uh, you wouldn’t mind if we stayed for dinner, pal…?”

Good Cortex chuckled softly, petting the top of Moritz’s helmet.

“Of course you can. Who am I to refuse a guest?” 

Moritz giggled in turn, relieved at how cosy the house felt compared to before. Victor still had mixed feelings, but he quickly made up his mind and followed them when it dawned on him that the alternative would be to stay in the room alone with Evil Crash. With that, the bandicoot took the rear of the group, having nothing better to do.

“Uhm, can you two eat spaghetti bolognese?” Good Cortex suddenly piped up, the aroma of frying onion already filling the room.

“Of course, this isn’t usually what parrots should eat, but the mutants that come out of the Evolvo-Ray are usually able to eat human food. But of course, you weren’t mutated correctly, so I don’t know if that applies…?” Cortex trailed off, nervously stopping his rambling.

“Well, I eat all kinds’a stuff all the time!” Moritz chirped. “I love spaghetti!”

“We’ll be fine,” Victor bluntly summarised. He had briefly left the house to collect their hoverchairs again from outside, allowing the twins to freely move around once more despite their small size. Both parrots were now hovering beside each other at the dining table, Moritz having removed his helmet to sip at a glass of lemonade that Good Cortex got for him. Victor’s remained untouched; as hungry and thirsty as he was, the stress and anxiety clawing at his stomach kept him from touching it.

Evil Crash had taken a seat opposite the twins, and was now digging his claws into the tabletop, adding to the many gashes and dents that already pockmarked the wooden surface. It was an uncomfortable sight, though Victor was just grateful that he was scratching the table rather than him. Good Cortex turned to the twins once more after adding more ingredients to the pot.

“So, where are you two planning on going? By the sounds of things you can’t go back to your stronghold, so…?” 

“Well, that’s the thing. We don’t have nowhere else to go, so that’s why we came here,” Victor answered. 

“…Nowhere else to go,” Good Cortex echoed softly, brow pinching in thought. “…Would you two like to stay with us for a while? I could look after you, and I’m sure Crash will learn to play nice.”

“Yeah!” Moritz piped up without a second thought, beaming. Victor had more reservations, but nodded slowly anyway. What other choice did he have?

A loud, wooden banging sound rang out from the front room as the front door slammed open, causing both twins to flinch in surprise. Good Cortex let out a small gasp of shock, dropping his wooden spoon and turning to peer through the doorway back to the front. There was an odd, extended, uncomfortable silence until Good Cortex relaxed as he recognised the source of the disruption.

“Hello there, Coco! You’re home early. You’re back in time for dinner!” he called cheerfully.

A bored-looking young bandicoot rolled her eyes as she entered the room, dropping a worn baseball bat with nails driven through against the wall. Moritz’s eyes widened as he noticed a slight splattering of red on the tip. Evil Crash held up his clenched hand, receiving a greeting fist-bump from his sister.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. What’s cooking? I’m starv-!” Evil Coco froze mid-sentence, finally noticing the two birds hovering beside the table.

“…Ewwww! What the hell are _those?_ ” she spat, pointing a disgusted finger at the twins. “Did some of Crash’s freshkill come back to life, or what?!”

“Hey!” Victor snapped, glaring up at her. “Who are you calling freshkill, corpse-face?!”

Evil Coco snarled and reached down for her bat again. 

“Stop it, please!” Good Cortex cried, looking back and forth between Evil Coco and the twins. “There’s no need for name-calling!”

“Don’t butt in!” Evil Coco bristled, readying her bat.

Evil Crash sighed through his nose and held Coco back, shaking his head. The younger bandicoot opened her mouth to protest, but decided that it wasn’t worth the effort, dropping her weapon once more with a huff.

“Coco, these are Moritz and Victor, they’ll be staying with us from now on. Boys, this is Coco, Crash’s younger sister,” Good Cortex introduced quickly, trying to make peace. Moritz waved at Evil Coco nervously. Victor just glared at her, a gesture that was returned. Cortex cleared his throat and refocused his attention to re-organising the spice rack while the pasta boiled.

“ _Evil_ Twins,” Evil Coco muttered, aimlessly toying with her hair as they waited. Good Cortex had left the room briefly for the bathroom, leaving the bandicoots alone with the twins. “Pah. You don’t look too tough to me. I bet I could crush both of you with both arms tied behind my back.”

“Oh yeah?” Victor scoffed. “You wanna know what we’ve capable of?”

“Oh, sure. I bet you could do _tons_ of evil stuff like, I dunno, knock over birdbaths? Repeat swear words? Squawk when people are trying to sleep?”

“How about pulling someone’s brain clean out of their head? Commanding hundreds of ant soldiers? Ooh, how about awakening an old god?” Victor preened.

Coco sat in stunned silence for a few seconds before shaking her head.

“Ugh. You expect me to believe that?”

“But it’s true!” Moritz said. “We got tons of riches too-! Or, used to have…”

“What is it with you and the riches?” Victor groaned, not bothered enough to get truly angry.

“They’re all shiny, n’ stuff… I just think they’re neat,” Moritz mumbled.

“But how would you two even do all that stuff you said?” Evil Coco demanded. “You’re just little birds, no way you could do that yourselves.”

“You can see just by looking at us that we ain’t just regular birds. These suits, these helmets, these hoverchairs, all our creations! And I mean, c’mon, surely you’ve seen our little monument on the mountain?”

Evil Coco frowned, but nodded slowly. Victor had a point.

“What about those powers you keep talking about?” Coco queried, her tone a little less aggressive than before. “Prove it. Do something cool.”

Before Moritz could explain that they were too tired to do anything extreme, Victor had stood up in his chair – there was no way he’d let anyone doubt their abilities. With the slow raising of an upturned hand, Evil Crash was slowly lifted from his seat, floating into the air.

The bandicoot flailed his arms and made an odd, screeching cry of pure bewilderment, knocking Victor’s lemonade off of the table with a stray kick. Holding his breath and furrowing his brow in effort, Victor twisted his clawed hands around, making Crash twirl around in mid air, being tossed around like a rag doll.

Evil Coco stared up at her brother, a huge grin cracking across her muzzle despite herself. Already feeling his strength dwindling, Victor stopped moving and held Evil Crash upside down, pinning the bandicoot’s arms to his sides to keep him from lashing out.

“What… What do ya think of that?” Victor panted, arms trembling under the strain as though he were holding up Crash with his hands.

Coco snickered and flicked Crash’s nose. Crash squirmed and snarled in frustration and confusion, feet uselessly brushing against the ceiling as he kicked.

“I think we could get along just fine, my feathered friend,” Coco snorted. “I can definitely see powers like this coming in handy.”

Victor flipped Crash the right way up before lowering him back into his seat. The landing was a bit rougher than he intended as he lost control towards the end, but Crash remained unharmed. The parrot flopped back onto his seat, sighing from exhaustion.

“Just… don’t expect us to do stuff like that all the time, alright?”

Good Cortex re-entered the room as Evil Crash began attempting to smooth down his fur by licking his palms and rubbing himself down, grumbling under his breath. A rich aroma wafted across the kitchen as Cortex lifted the lid of the sauce pot, giving a quick stir before nodding quickly.

“Grub’s up!”

Some time after dinner, all were resting by the fire. The room was dark again, lit only by the soft orange glow of the hearth, but now it felt homely rather than eerie. Evil Coco was slumped on an armchair, swiping through her phone, face blank. Good Cortex was snuggled up to Evil Crash’s side on the couch, talking away whilst absent-mindedly stroking Mr. Tiddles the cat, who had curled up on his lap. Moritz was sat on the rug, roasting marshmallows provided by Cortex on the fire. Victor was sat beside him.

Victor was coming to terms with the fact that he was happy, actually happy. Not some smug, villainous triumph, he felt genuinely content for the first time as long as he could remember. It was odd. Their stronghold was more than enough to keep them safe, but he couldn’t recall ever feeling as secure and as at home as he did right in that moment.

“Have you got enough marshmallows there, boys? Is the fire high enough?” Good Cortex called.

“We’re all good!” Moritz replied cheerily before shovelling a lump of burnt marshmallow into his beak.

Victor squeezed an untoasted marshmallow between his thumb and forefinger.

“Well, maybe everything’s gonna be okay after all,” Moritz said, smiling softly.

“…Maybe.”

**Author's Note:**

> it's late, too tired to add proper notes. hope you enjoyed anyhoo


End file.
